HARTFORD >> The Office of State Ethics issued an informal opinion last week which said it wouldn’t be a conflict of interest for Rep. Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin, to serve both as Speaker of the House and as education coordinator for the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).

The opinion requested by Cara Passaro in the office of House Majority Leader asks if there is “any apparent ethical issues arising from his employment, including a conflict of interest with his legislative duties.”

Brian O’Dowd, an attorney with the Office of State Ethics, concluded that “there is no provision in the Code that would bar Representative Aresimowicz from holding both positions simultaneously—particularly given that his outside work for the union preceded both his election to his current term and his expected election to the position of Speaker.”

The House is expected to elect its leadership, including Aresimowicz at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 4.

“Further, because the union is not a ‘business with which [Representative Aresimowicz] is associated,’ General Statutes § 1-85 prohibits him “from taking official action on union matters only if he [or his family members are] specifically affected by the legislation,” O’Dowd wrote.

That means, according to O’Dowd, that he can vote on legislation “ affecting the financial interests of . . . his employer, but may not vote on legislation that would single out the [individuals] employed by that union alone for an increase in salary.”

“In sum, there is simply nothing in the Code—nor in the more than thirty-five years of precedent interpreting it—that would bar Representative Aresimowicz from serving as Speaker while engaging in his pre-existing employment relationship with the union, or from taking official action on union matters in the absence of a direct financial impact on himself or his family members,” O’Dowd wrote.